Republicans seek triumph in frantic last day before US election

Republicans are increasingly optimistic about winning many seats in Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections, with criticism of Democrats over inflation and crime as President Joe Biden seeks a delay. late warning that Republican Party election deniers could destroy democracy.

The GOP has considerable momentum in its bid to win back the House of Representatives, while the fate of the Democrat-dominated Senate hangs on a razor’s edge. A Republican triumph in either branch would hamper Biden’s run in the presidency and create two bitter years of political stalemate before the 2024 White House race.

In an exclusive interview with CNN the potential next Speaker of the House, Republican Kevin McCarthy, laid out his plans and promised to fight inflation, crime and improve border security.

He also promised extensive investigations against the Biden administration into the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the government handled parents and school board meetings. And he hasn’t ruled out an eventual push for Biden’s impeachment.

“The first thing you will see is a bill to control the border,” McCarthy told CNN 🇧🇷

In a sign of the critical stakes and growing angst among Democrats, four presidents — Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — went to campaign over the weekend.

Former President Trump, moving ever closer to announcing a 2024 White House candidacy, will end a campaign he used to showcase his enduring magnetism among grassroots Republicans in Ohio with a rally for Senate candidate JD Vance this Friday. Monday (7).

In a speech, which ended in torrential rain, to Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Sunday, Trump predicted that voters would “elect an incredible list of true ‘Make America Great Again’ warriors.” [jargão do Partido Republicano] to Congress”.

Biden, who spent Saturday with Obama seeking votes in the critical Pennsylvania Senate race, warned that the country’s core values ​​were in jeopardy because of Republicans who denied the truth about the US Capitol insurrection and after the brutal attack on her husband. by President Nancy Pelosi, Paul Pelosi.

“Democracy is literally at the polls. This is a turning point for the nation. And we must all speak with one voice, regardless of our party. There is no place in America for political violence,” Biden said.

The president will end his effort to avoid a rebuke from voters at a Democratic event in Maryland. The fact that he is in a liberal bastion and not trying to propel a threatened lawmaker into a major race on the final night reflects his compromised stance in an election that reverted to a referendum on his tattered credibility and low approval ratings.

Democrats are playing defense in their strongholds like New York, Washington and Oregon and are fighting a long struggle to win the House of Representatives. Republicans only need a net gain of five seats to regain control.

A handful of state clashes will decide the fate of the Senate, currently split 50-50, including Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Republicans are also showing renewed interest in the New Hampshire race between Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan and retired Army Brigadier General Don Bolduc, a pro-Trump candidate who Democrats call an extremist and election-denier.

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel predicts her party will win in both the House and Senate and has accused Biden of ignoring economic anxiety among Americans with his repeated warnings about democracy.

“Here’s what Democrats are: they’re inflation deniers, crime deniers, education deniers,” McDaniel said.

Florida Senator Rick Scott, who heads the GOP Senate campaign committee, predicted his party would win a majority on Tuesday.

“We’re going to have more than 52,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, referring to the number of seats he hopes to control.

But President Biden warned in a speech in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, alongside Barack Obama, that Republican concern for the economy was false and said the GOP would cut Social Security and Medicare if they gained a majority.

“Look, they’re all about the richest getting rich. And the richest remain rich. The middle class is stagnant. The poor are made poorer by their politics,” Biden said.

The midterm elections are the first national vote since the chaos and violence unleashed by Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the last presidential election, and there are already fears that some Republican candidates could follow his lead and try to defy the will of voters if not win. Some, like Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, have already raised concerns about the integrity of the vote.

In another development on Sunday, an employee at the Kari Lake headquarters, the pro-Trump candidate in the Arizona gubernatorial contest, opened a letter containing suspicious white powder. Lake’s opponent, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, condemned the incident as “incredibly troubling”.

closing arguments

In a frantic campaign weekend, Biden and Obama tried to push Democratic candidate John Fetterman into the Pennsylvania Senate, which represents the party’s best chance of winning a Senate seat now held by the Republicans.

But Democrats are under heavy pressure in states like Arizona and Nevada, which could turn the House to the Republican Party. Republicans need a net gain of just one seat to win a majority.

The first major clashes of the 2024 GOP nomination race, meanwhile, erupted in Florida, with Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holding duel rallies on Sunday night.

The former president, who is due to launch a third White House bid within days, coined a new nickname on Saturday for the man who could be his toughest primary opponent: “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

But the Florida governor chose not to get involved, turning his wrath on Biden and calling his Democratic opponent Charlie Crist “stupid” while taking credit for defying Washington officials and experts during the pandemic.

“I was willing to stand there and make myself the target so you didn’t have to,” DeSantis said.

While defending Rubio, who seeks re-election, Trump did not repeat his mockery of DeSantis on Sunday, but again teased the likelihood of a presidential race. In another sign that the upcoming presidential race is in turmoil, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who has long had his eye on higher office, announced that he will not participate in the Republican primaries.

Former President Bill Clinton was also called to action on Saturday, defending Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul in Brooklyn. The state should be safe territory for her party, but Hochul’s closer-than-expected re-election race against Republican Representative Lee Zeldin underscores the harsh national environment for Democrats.

“I know the average election rally is just ‘vote for me’, but your life is on the line. For the young people in the audience, their lives are on the line,” Clinton said.

With Americans struggling with the high cost of living, Democrats have been unable to prevent a referendum on Biden’s economic management and presidency, with most polls predicting a Republican push that could give the first-term president a rebuke. classic in midterm elections.

There are growing doubts about the Democrats’ strategy and whether they are effectively speaking out on the issues voters care most about. Biden’s final message about saving democracy from pro-Trump candidates may be an accurate reflection of the new threats posed by the former president and his supporters. But it does nothing to assuage fears about the cost of food or the gallon of gasoline.

Biden, however, was unable to speak effectively and personally to Americans who want a return to normalcy after the pandemic or say he fully understands the burden of rising prices in a burst of the highest inflation in 40 years, which his House Branca has repeatedly claimed to be “transient”.

If Republicans win back the House, they could impose a grip on Biden’s legislative program and create a series of dangerous political clashes over spending and raising the debt ceiling. They are promising a relentless round of investigations and hearings on everything from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan to the surge in migrants on the southern border, and even Biden’s son Hunter.

The GOP majority would contain dozens of candidates in Trump’s extreme image and be used as a weapon to harm the president as much as possible ahead of a potential rematch with Trump in 2024. And a Republican Senate would thwart Biden’s hopes of balancing the judiciary after four years with Trump appointing conservative judges.